ordinary people: April 2012

Favourite bloggers of the moment

Whenever I get asked where I find my 'inspiration', I immediately point to other blogs and lookbookers. Seriously, why are you looking at my blog when you could be looking at theirs? Anyway, my recent obsession with grunge fashion has grown from a little ugly duckling into a full fledged swan. It doesn't show whatsoever, but my love for grunge is at a dangerous all-time high. But then again, I change my mind every day on what I like, so who knows. Maybe tomorrow I'll be into shoulder pads. Just kidding, I hate shoulder pads (not on other people, just myself). So, without further adue, here's my inspiration as of late. The photos are directly linked.

PS: I start working tomorrow. Big people stuff. Sheesh. Brb, taking a trip to Neverland. Also, Avengers looks so good.

Galaxy Nails Tutorial

You guys better be proud of me, because today, I spent my time making a video tutorial. Yeah, me making a video. Take that, iMovie. Anyway, I had been getting quite a few requests on how I painted my galaxy nails. Once you watch the video though, you'll understand how someone like me could do it. It's no professional manicure, but it'll do I suppose. So, I hope you enjoy it. I actually had quite a bit of fun editing/making the video. Any other requests? Just kidding. Oh, and a few people have asked me how I curl my hair. I'll get on it, don't you worry.

Also, although YouTube is a gem when it comes to actually watching videos, I cannot stand comments. Sometimes they're funny, but most of the time they're just downright depressing. So if you want to comment, feel free to down below. By the way, just to let you know, here are the nail polishes I used. For the black, I used 212-Sephora from Sephora by OPI; yellow, IM Beauty from Sephora by OPI; white, Nearly Nude by Sally Hansen (this is actually for french manicures, but hey, it works); and pink, Candles on my Cake from OPI. I'm sure you can really use any colour combination, so experiment, have fun.

Surf'n Sand

I was wearing shorts around my house yesterday. Yes, shorts. Not sweats, but shorts. I don't know what it is with Edmonton, but I don't need to be a specialist to know that it's developed a bipolar disorder of some sort. First it's raining, then it's snowing, and then it's sunny and everyone wants to hold hands, sing in circles, and ride unicorns. When will this madness stop? The weather seriously never fails when it comes to finding content to write about. I'm also watching two videos at once. The golden age of technology, everyone.

Anyway, apart from wandering around my house trying to figure out what to do with the warm weather, I've been thinking about what to do with the layout of the blog (this consists of playing around with html until 4 in the morning). This is just a test run, so we'll see what comes about. Kurtis and I still have a lot of tweaking around to do. What'dya think?

thrifted diy cut-up tank, faux fur tail key chain c/o 2020 ave, high-waisted jean shorts c/o warriors of culture, fringe bag c/o romwe, tuque from the bay

Listen to Your Heart

What's up happy people? I'm just loungin' around, y'know, since I've got less than a week of summer until I start making some meagre doh. Apart from the constant raining, my start to summer has been phenomenal. By that, I mean I haven't really done anything productive. I cleaned out my closet, played some Mass Effet 3, ate cinnamon buns (I eat healthy...), and did some occasional reading. Talk about purr-fect.

Also, sorry for the title of the post. Recently, I've been listening to a bunch of songs (back from High School) that highly encourage singing-along-to and showcase absolutely heart-wrenching lyrics that one would get if they mashed together the Titanic and the Notebook into a song. I mean, how can you get any better than DHT?

lace skirt c/o queen's wardrobe, faux fur tail keychain c/o 2020 ave, top from UO, denim top c/o mexy, bag c/o romwe, vintage flats c/o shoppalu, necklace c/o oh my frock

King and Lionheart

I am officially done my first year of university! WOOOH! Anyways, I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of editing photos and posting more often on the blog. I haven't done a music post in a while so I will probably get on that right away. However, for the next 2 to 3 days, I will be celebrating with my friends. Even though it's only my first year, it felt like 4. Enough about school, the outfit I have been saving for today features the hat I bought a while ago from ONLY. I have been wearing the hat a lot since I got it and could not be happier with the quality of the materials. The bill of the hat is two toned, the top is brown suede and the bottom is green cloth. The rest of the hat is made from Woolrich wool and the strap is made out of leather. Of course, they have many other styles that are made out of different materials but this one really caught my eye. Hope everyone is having a good summer and if you are not in university, sorry. We have all been through 2 month summers and I never want to go back.

hat, brand: Only

sweater, store: Urban Outfitters, brand: Obey

jeans, store: High Grade, brand: Naked and Famous

shoes, store: Gravity Pope, brand: Vans

watch, brand: WeWood

WCFW March 2012

Due to a lethal combination of exams, laziness, procrastination, and the urge to play video games, we apologize for the really really late post on Western Canada Fashion Week, which we attended a few weeks ago (yikes, it's been a while). This being our first fashion show, you could imagine we were over-excited. Think I-caught-a-legendary-Pokémon type of excitement. The two of us took turns taking pictures and we actually have over 2,000 photos, but decided to slim it down for y'all. Since we only attended two nights out of five, this post is not a great review of the whole week. Check out Marie a la Mode and Dress me Dearly for some much more in-depth reviews.

We would also like to thank Western Canada Fashion Week for having us at the show. It was a buh-last.

Lovely jackets by Calgarian designer Aleem of Bano eeMee, whom we had the pleasure of meeting at the Mercedes Benz Start-Up show!

Cocktail dresses by Emogene Couture

Designs by Luxx

3.1 Philip Lim presented by Coup Boutique

Jewelry by Phabrik

Designs by Stanley Carroll

Men's Accessories: Miansai

Finding jewelry for men has proved to be difficult. I've tried to diversify my wardrobe through accessories but I always have this fear of getting a bracelet or necklace that is too feminine. However, I stumbled upon this amazing brand called Miansai that is geared towards making men's accessories, be it rings, bracelets, necklaces, key chains, cuffs, tie bars, and even a 14k gold iphone case that costs $10 000! The styles they have are simple, making it easy to mix and match. The best part is you can change the type of metal for the hook and anchor bracelets between silver, gold or rose gold. Below are some of my favourite items from Miansai. The prices may be a bit pricey but the quality of their products are amazing. I have provided the links for each item, just click on their names! Enjoy.

PS: I know I haven't blogged in a while but I have one more test tomorrow. Expect to see more of me :)

6.Hook Cuff

Sheinside International Giveaway

We thoroughly apologize for the lack of attention that has been paid to this blog. So, in order to make it up to you guys, we want to hold another giveaway, courtesy of Sheinside. We don't know about you, but we're pretty excited about it because you can win some neat-o things. Your closet will love you, we promise.

Also, nothing's changed from the usual. But for those who have never used Rafflecopter before, all you need to know is that there are two mandatory steps you must complete to enter the giveaway. Note that you need to use the same e-mail to register for both Rafflecopter and Sheinside. If you used Facebook to register on Rafflecopter, or used a different e-mail, yadda yadda yadda, please comment on the post telling us that you used a different e-mail. Make sure to leave that e-mail in the post, and also leave us your Rafflecopter name (so we can make sure you completed everything, y'know?). There are also some non-mandatory steps that can help boost your chances in winning the oh so fantabular giveaway. Yeah, we like to make up words. No big.

PS: If you want to go ahead and start shopping, you can use the code Alyssa20 for 20% off the entire site!

If you happen to be the lucky winner, you get to pick one out of these choices! 1. bird pattern chiffon dress, 2. blue chiffon shirt, 3. leopard-print studded loafers, 4. black studded loafers, 5. black creepers, 6. starry chiffon dress.

4/5 exams completed. I can almost taste the freedom. What a cliché thing to say, but it's true. And right now, it tastes a lot like Mass Effect 3. I probably should be studying right now, but I'm almost dried out of study power, which is pretty hard to come by nowadays when everybody is so low on stock. Anyway, aside from my pointless jibberjabber, as I promised, here's what I wore to the Mercedes-Benz Start Up fashion show last Wednesday. For the record, this dress was hand-painted by the wonderful Sarah from We Are Hairy People. If I could paint on dresses, I'd quit school. I'd also be in Coachella right now. Cry. There better be a Coachella when I'm 30 or something like that, because I swear I won't be able to go for the next ten years of my life. Also, what is it about galaxy print that makes it so... irresistible? The galaxy trend kind of reminds me of that cat from Men In Black that held the universe on its collar and how cool the universe looked like in that glass ball thinger. All I can say is that I'm a huge sucker for anything with stars and multiple galaxies. Mass Effect 3 has some pretty nice galaxy scenes that I wouldn't mind seeing transformed into clothing, actually.

PS: Today at the oh so fabulous WEM, there's going to be a Spring Fashion Show open to everyone at 3:00 PM. Kurtis and I should be going (procrastinating is great when you're actually getting out of the house; I'll also have an excuse to wear something other than sweats) so if you're showing up as well, give us a shout!
PPS: Just another week until I'm free from the chains of school. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
PPPS: If you're looking for a dress for prom (*squeeeeeal*), check out some prom dresses here.

dress c/o we are hairy people, clutch c/o ella tino, heeled sandals from zara, roach ring c/o romwe, tribal ring c/o mad lady

Mercedes-Benz Start-Up Semi Finals 2012

Yes, we went to the Mercedes-Benz Start-Up Semi-Final Runway Fashion show last night even though we're in the midst of the worst week ever. Yet we only have great things to say about the young Canadian fashion-designers who presented their beautiful work. Unfortunately, we got there a bit late (Alyssa drove, so naturally, we got lost), so we don't have any snazzy photos for y'all. Hopefully you can just trust us when we say that we were very very impressed and inspired by all the designs. Anyway, a bit about the program. Mercedes-Benz Start-Up is a "national initiative to discover and mentor up-and-coming Canadian fashion designers." Sounds neat, right? So if you are/know any fashion-designers interested in this program, make sure to check it out! And before we forget, congratulations Marlorie Urbanovitch for winning and making us Edmontonians proud.

Because we haven't posted in a while, here are some photos. After the show, we made it our mission to scout out as many servers as possible and get our snack on because the ~~h'ordeurves~~ hors d'oeuvres were delicious. Hey, don't judge, we were hungry hungry hippos.

PS: We've been procrastinating on the WCFW photos. There are so many to look through. Stay patient, internet friends.
PPS: Thank you so much to Andrew Serrano from IMG Fashion for inviting us, and to Caroline for referring us!
PPPS: If you're in Edmonton, check out West Edmonton Mall's Free Spring Fashion Show featuring fashion retailers from WEM with WCFW designers this Saturday at 3PM on Europa Boulevard (lvl 2, phase 3)!